Faded Lines
by Unwillingly Me
Summary: Words in passing. Obsession obviously present. Obsession with keeping her bloodline pure, and an obsession over the Dark Lord. Hubris and pride. This was what led to her derailment. If one could call it that.


**Hey, so this is my first actual not-crossover Harry Potter fic. And I thought "Who better to write about than Bellatrix Lestrange, the most badass Harry Potter character ever?" It might not be all that good, so sorry if it's not fantastic.**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling.**

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><p><em>Bellatrix Black is crazy.<em>

_Yeah, but she's rather attractive._

_But she's crazy. It doesn't matter how attractive she is._

I ignored this conversation, though I must admit, those two imbeciles weren't very good at keeping their voices down. One would think that they would have noticed me sitting not too far from where they sat. Or maybe they did see me. Maybe they didn't think I'd hear. Maybe they just didn't care. Maybe they thought I had something better to do other than listen to two idiot mudblood Hufflepuffs.

Typically, I would.

But I got in a stupid argument with Andromeda about a Hufflepuff. Perhaps this was irony. It did seem rather ironic that I would be forced to listen to them after an argument about a Hufflepuff boy. They weren't even good at anything. I don't care what some people say. A Hufflepuff couldn't find his glasses even if they were sitting on his head. Hufflepuffs were all idiots and none of them were good finders.

I finally got sick of their continued slanders of my name. So I hung one from his ankles in the air and used a Permanent Sticking Charm on the other. How dare they speak poorly of me? They were simply ants to be crushed. I was just waiting for the right time to finish them off. Not here at school, they'd snap my wand if I did anything here.

Or they'd send me to Azkaban.

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><p><em>Bellatrix is mad.<em>

_Mad as in angry or insane?_

_Both would work fine._

I ignored these comments to the best of my abilities, but only for a little while. Their remarks on my personality were things I could not neglect for long. So after they had split, I followed the one that wasn't my sister. Because he was the reason she had changed. Ted Tonks was going to pay for what he was doing, pulling my sister down to his level, the filthy mudblood.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

It took a while to pull his body from the second floor up to the Room of Requirement. Luckily, everyone who saw turned a blind eye out of fear, even staff. Andromeda was lucky herself that she had not seen me. If she had, I might have hexed her for allowing this mudblood to delude her into thinking that he was off the same ranking as us. We were superior. We were pure-blooded. What would Mother and Father think if they knew? They would be furious. She should be thanking me for taking care of this dilemma for her. Because unlike her, I understood the crime of being with a mudblood. Severe punishment would be in order if Mother and Father found out. I was saving her. I was saving her ass by doing this. And how did she decide to thank me? By staying with this stupid boy.

I could feel Tonks's fear radiating off of him in waves. Before I shoved him into the Vanishing Cabinet, I warned him to stay away from Andromeda, because she was worth more than he could ever imagine her being. Because he was just a silly little mudblood unaware of his crimes.

And she, like I, was pure-blooded.

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><p><em>I think Bella's losing it.<em>

_Don't worry, Cissy. She's just in a mood._

_I think she's lost her mind._

It mattered what Narcissa thought of me, not anymore. I didn't care. She was weak and scared. She didn't have any power, not like I did. I had more power than she could ever have, simply because she was scared. The coward.

I nonchalantly walked into the dormitory, hoping that they would realize their mistake. After grabbing my books, I walked out with my head held high. After all, I had nothing to worry about. I was Bellatrix Black, the most desired girl at Hogwarts because of my looks and the most feared because of my skill. It wasn't enough though. I needed more power. I needed more so that I could show the world what true terror really was, because they didn't know. They were fools.

Mother and Father were proud of me. It didn't matter because I was better than even them. They knew nothing of what I was capable. And they wanted me to join the Ministry, wanted me to fix everything that had gone wrong, wanted me to rid the world of mudbloods and muggles. No one would allow me to become the Minister of Magic. They'd say I was too dangerous and unpredictable, maybe even insane. Of course, that only showed what little they knew. I assured Mother and Father that I would right the wrongs they spoke of. I would exterminate the muggles, mudbloods, and blood traitors.

I didn't tell them, however, that I would never be a part of the Ministry.

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><p><em>Bellatrix Lestrange, the killer?<em>

_Yes, the madwoman. They still haven't got her._

_Why the hell not?_

I sat only a few tables down, silently fuming behind my copy of the _Daily Prophet_. Imprisonment was what they thought I deserved. How stupid of them. What have I done wrong? Killed countless muggles and mudbloods, along with a few blood traitors. Tortured the people that got in my way, not letting them die. They deserved it, they did. If only I could find Andromeda and her mudblood husband. I would make them pay. Tonks, what a common name. It seemed fitting for a mudblood and a blood traitor.

Narcissa married that coward, Malfoy. Andromeda married her scum of a husband. I, of course, married Rodulphus, as I was expected to. Was there any mutual feeling of affection between us? Most definitely not. After hearing the conversation about me for a while, I simply cast a nice little killing curse without anyone noticing.

The woman dropped dead into her soup. It serves her right for preaching such blasphemy to other people. I was the best. No, I was second best. The best was obviously the Dark Lord. Even my skills could never surpass his. Did he have emotions for me? No, there was no love in his heart for me. Perhaps a bit of respect, but not love.

I didn't think he could love, and that hurt more than it should have.

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><p><em>Lunatic's gotten what she deserves.<em>

_Yeah._

_You hear that, Lestrange?! You pretty much bought yourself that cell!_

Their mockery held no meaning. The Dark Lord was not dead. He would not die. He was invincible. They doubted him. They doubted his power. I wanted to destroy them for their disbelief in the Dark Lord. They were fools. Anyone who believed him to be dead was a fool, living in hope. He would never die at the hands of a child. He was the greatest wizard in the world. He could never be bested by an infant or anyone at all. Not even by Dumbledore.

The dementors were supposed to destroy me. But they couldn't find anything to feed on, not from me. The wizards though, the ones that were patrolling for the time being, they spoke of the peculiar resilience that I and my wretched cousin had. For neither of us, they said, had been reduced to nothingness by the dementors.

I could hear the insane laughter of others. I could hear their screams of pain. Rodulphus was one of them, the weakling. Why couldn't he hold up like me? Obviously because we wasn't strong enough. He wasn't worth the existence if he couldn't handle Azkaban. He screamed my name every few minutes. I refused to answer. Instead I silently cursed him and prayed to nothing in particular that he would die.

He wasn't worth any of my time.

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><p><em>Go, it'll be fine.<em>

_But-_

_I'll take care of her. Don't worry, Remus!_

Such brave words from such a young woman. It was a shame that she wouldn't last. What did she think she could do? Who did she think she was? Her bright pink hair seemed to shout rebellion. Her eyes showed cold anger and the thirst for vengeance. How interesting. She thought that she would outlast me in a duel. Who did she think she was?

"Hello Aunt Bellatrix." Those were the curt words that exited her mouth before she even pulled out her wand. I didn't care about who she was, but those words were what revealed her identity. Definitely not Narcissa's child. After all, the only child she had was Draco, and he had been nowhere to be seen as of late. That meant that this woman was Andromeda's daughter. All the more reason to kill her. To destroy the rotting branches of my family tree: the half-blood, born of my sister and that mudblood Tonks, married to the werewolf. She deserved to die.

But not yet. Oh not yet. She needed to feel pain, young Nymphadora did. I could kill her in an instant, but I didn't want to yet. Soon. I played with her mind a bit, allowing her to believe that she might have a chance at defeating me. Then I noticed Antonin Dolohov dueling a weak man. And I noticed dear Nymphadora glancing between him and me.

"Crucio." She fell to the ground in agony. Not a very good Auror if she couldn't handle this. I briskly walked to the woman and forced her to watch her husband's demise. A flash of green light, and then I could see the werewolf's body crumpled on the ground, very obviously void of life. I allowed the woman to get up and run to her husband's side as she cried his name out. I wasn't kind enough to let her say goodbye.

Her lifeless body laid a mere foot away from his.

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><p><em>Not my daughter you bitch.<em>

I laughed at the old woman. This was preposterous. Did she not know that she was dealing with the strongest, most powerful of the Dark Lord's followers? Was she a fool, the Weasley scum? Of course she was. She was, after all, a Weasley. There was no way that she could overpower me. Not with the grief she was carrying over the loss of that boy. I had no grief over anyone. I was the last of the Dark Lord's followers standing. She was just an old woman. Her grief turned to rage when she noticed my smile.

Somehow, I was weak enough to lose to her.


End file.
